Combination skirt and trousers hanger



July 27, 1954 s. J. HARRIS COMBINATION SKIRT AND TROUSERS HANGER Filed June 30, 1951 IE.E

H/J ATTORNEYS Patented July 27, 1954 COMBINATION SKIRT AND TROUSERS I HANGER Samuel J. Harris, Dayton, Ohio Application June 30, 1951, Serial No. 234,558

3 Claims. 1

This invention relates to a combination skirt and trousers hanger and more particularly to a hanger which may be adjusted to accommodate skirts and trousers of various sizes.

A large number of garment hangers have been devised and patented from time to time which include adjustable slides mounted on a bar, but these prior art hangers have required the use of springs or other relatively complicated means for holding the slides in adjusted position or have been otherwise objectionable. Patents such as Williams 1,272,164, Gage 846,023, and l-Ioepfinger 745,961 illustrate hangers of the types which have been devised in the past. It is an object of my invention to provide a hanger which constitutes an improvement over these prior hangers.

More particularly, it is an object of this invention to simplify the hangers without destroying the effectiveness or usefulness ofthe hangers. Inasmuch as hangers of this type are sold in competition: with a large number of other types of hangers, it is important that they be made so inexpensive and practical that they can be sold to advantage in competition with the other hangers.

It is an object of this invention to provide a multiple purpose hanger which may be manufactured at a low cost on a mass production basis from materials of the type which are readily available.

Another object of this invention is to provide a hanger which may be adjusted with a minimum amount of inconvenience.

Another object of this invention is to provide a hanger which is light in weight and which occupies a minimum amount of space.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a hanger in which a skirt may be supported from a hanger in a partially folded manner so as to conserve on space required.

More particularly, it is an object of this invention to provide a hanger from which a skirt may be supported in a partially folded position without producing any wrinkles in the skirt.

Other objects and advantages reside in the Figure 3 is a side elevational view showing a trousers supported by the hanger;

Figure 4 is a side elevational' view, with parts broken away, showing a skirt supported by the hanger;

Figure 5 is a sectional view taken on line 5-5 of Figure 4; and

Figure 6 is a view taken on line 6-6 of Figure 3.

Referring now to the drawing wherein I have shown a preferred embodiment of my invention, reference numeral H) designates a rod which is provided with a suitable hook l2 for suspending the rod. The particular means for suspending the rod may be varied without departing from the spirit of my invention.

A fixed garment supporting member [4 is secured to the one end of the rod l0 and is provided with depending fingers I6 which. are provided for engaging a garment in a manner to be explained more fully hereinafter. An adjustable garment supporting member I8 is slidably supported on the other end of the rod II], as shown, and is also provided with a pair of depending fingers 2!) similar to the: fingers It. A stop 22 is provided on the extreme end of the rod ID, as shown, so as to prevent the adjustable member l8 from sliding off the end of the rod I0.

The members [4, I 8 and 22 may be made very cheaply from bar stock merely by cutting off short lengths ofthe bar and drilling holes through the cutoff portions or theymay be made from stampings, if desired. The members I4 and 22 are preferably provided with holes just large enough to have a press fit on the rod [0, whereas the member [8 is provided with a hole having just enough clearance to allow it to slide freely on the bar when force is applied to the member, such as by clutching the sides of the member between ones fingers and pushing it longitudinally on the rod II). It has been found that by arranging the depending fingers l6 and 20 so as to project outwardly from the center line of the hanger, the weight of any garment supported by the hanger will exert an off center force on the member I8 so as to hold the member l8 in a slightly cocked position on the rod and thereby prevent slippage of the member on the rod I0.

By virtue of the above described arrangement, it is obvious that trousers of any size may be supported by inserting the depending fingers l6 and 20 into the cuffs of the trousers, as shown in Figures 3 and 6, and that the weight of the trousers will exert a cooking force on the adjustable support [8 so as to hold it against shifting on the rod l0.

The hanger is not only suitable for supporting trousers but is also admirably adaptable for supporting womens skirts, in that the skirt may be held on the depending fingers l6 and 29, as shown in Figures 4 and 5, by partially folding the skirt at its midpoint. By virtue of this arrangement, the crease in the skirt is not a sharp crease, in that it passes over both of the fingers 20 which are spaced apart as shown.

By virtue of the above described construction and arrangement, a very inexpensive, yet highly practical, hanger has been provided which can be used for supporting either trousers or skirts.

Although the preferred embodiment of the device has been described, it will be understood that Within the purview of this invention various changes may be made in the form, details, proportion and arrangement of parts, the combination thereof and mode of operation, which generally stated consist in a device capable of carrying out the objects set forth, as disclosed and defined in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A garment hanger comprising a supporting cylindrical bar, and a pair of garment engaging devices on the bar, one of said devices being fixed to the bar and the other of said devices being freely movable longitudinally of the bar when not cocked relative to said bar, said movable device comprising a cylindrical member adapted to slidably receive said supporting bar and having substantially radially downwardly projecting fingers for engaging trousers or the like, the diameter of said cylindrical member being slightly larger than the support to permit the cylindrical member to cock so as to bind on the support whereby the weight of any garment supported by the hanger will exert an off center force on the cylindrical member in a slightly cocked position on the supporting bar and thereby prevent slippage of the cylindrical member on the supporting bar.

2. A garment hanger comprising a supporting cylindrical bar, a pair of garment engaging devices on the bar, one of said devices being fixed to the bar and the other of said devices being freely movable longitudinally of the bar when not cocked relative to said bar, said movable device comprising a cylindrical member adapted to slidably receive said supporting bar and having substantially radially downwardly projecting fingers for engaging trousers or the like, a bar mounting element secured substantially centrally of said bar, and a stop on the one end of said bar, said slidable garment engaging device being free to slide the full length of the distance between said mounting element and said stop, the diameter of said cylindrical member being slightly larger than the support to permit the cylindrical member to cock so as to bind on the support whereby the weight of any garment supported by the hanger will exert an off center force on the cylindrical member in a slightly cocked position on the supporting bar and thereby prevent slippage of the cylindrical member on the supporting bar.

3. A garment hanger comprising a supporting cylindrical bar, and a pair of garment engaging devices on the bar, one of said devices being fixed to the bar and the other of said devices being freely movable longitudinally of the bar when not cocked relative to said bar, said movable device comprising a cylindrical member adapted to slidably receive said supporting bar and having substantially radially downwardly projecting fingers for engaging trousers or the like, the inner diameter of said cylindrical mem her being of a size large enough to freely slidably support said movable garment engaging device but being small enough to cause binding when a force is applied to the said fingers provided thereon, the diameter of said cylindrical member being slightly larger than the support to permit the cylindrical member to cook so as to bind on the support whereby the weight of any garment supported by the hanger will exert an elf center force on the cylindrical member in a slightly cocked position on the supporting bar and thereby prevent slippage of the cylindrical member on the supporting bar.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,350,859 Reckow June 6, 1944 2,357,496 Boe et al Sept. 5, 1944 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 378 Great Britain 1911 an an 

